Make It Official! Twins 4, Guardians 1: The Thing That Happens Didn't Happen This Time

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Zebby Matthews: 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (76 Pitches, 47 Strikes, 61.8%)
Home Runs: Willi Castro (12)
Bottom 3 WPA: Matt Wallner (.250), Castro (.205), Matthews (.121)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

Full disclosure: I wouldn't have watched this game if I wasn't assigned to report on it. Watching the Guardians is excruciating, worse than any Yankee game, including the playoffs. If I have to watch the Twins carry a one- or two-run lead to the late innings and that godforsaken Will Brennan gets one more bloop hit to set off a rally, I will not be in a healthy place mentally. I would gladly prefer that José Ramírez, whom I dislike personally for the market impacts of his contract (as well as his flagrant assault of Tim Anderson), actually win one of these games for Cleveland, instead of going 0-4 and letting some weird-looking rookie drive home the go-ahead run for the 40th time in three years, after the Twins blew easy scoring chances in each of innings two through six. Just for a change of pace; I expect to lose, just mix it up a little.

Sometimes when you lose all hope, that's all you need.

Today's game featured two rookies, Zebby Matthews for Minnesota, and Gavin Williams for Cleveland. Williams was much-heralded as a prospect, and watching him pitch with his hammer curve, 94 MPH cutter and 98 MPH fastball, its hard to imagine how he has an ERA over 5.00, but he has given up a lot of hard contact. Matthews is still figuring out how many strikes to throw and when, and if tonight didn't go well, I wouldn't have been surprised if newly signed Cole Irvin takes his final two starts of the year.

Matthews certainly looked like he was pitching for his job at the start, hitting 97 MPH with his fastball and retiring the first five hitters he faced. After a walk to Monday night's hero, Kyle Manzardo, Brennan delivered his customary bloop hit, but Matthews struck out Bo Naylor on a sharp slider to end the threat.

Williams pitched well against the Twins in August, and cruised through the first few innings, getting a lot of chase from aggressive Twins hitters. Ryan Jeffers broke the seal with a swinging bunt to start the third, and after two outs, Byron Buxton worked a walk. That brought up Matt Wallner, who was in a 0-17 skid. He fell behind 0-2, but took a tough cutter for a ball and then stroked a mistake fastball into right field to score Jeffers.

Matthews allowed a runner into scoring position for Ramírez with two outs in the third, but struck out Cleveland's third baseman with a darting slider way out of the zone for the third out. But hey, if these games were won in the first three or four innings, the Twins would be 8-2 in these match-ups, not 2-8.

Right on cue, Lane Thomas demolished a fastball 424 feet from Matthews in the bottom of the fourth. Matthews didn't let that snowball, however, and retired the side after the homer, including a challenge strikeout of Brennan on a middle-middle fastball.

The Twins responded with two outs in the fifth. Buxton, whom we were all concerned would be rusty and/or limited physically coming back from his hip injury (which is by no means healed), rocketed a ball 107 MPH into the gap and easily turned the hit into a double, despite the ball being cut off by the center fielder. Wallner then fought a ball off his hands over Andrés Giménez's outstretched glove to score Buxton.

Matthews allowed a leadoff hit in the fifth, but got a key double play from Brayan Rocchio, who was initially attempting to bunt. Facing the lineup a third time, he allowed a sharp single to Angel Martinez, which prompted Rocco Baldelli to turn to his new acquisition, lefty starter Cole Irvin. Irvin got Giménez on a one-hopper to Royce Lewis, and the game marched on, a slow drumbeat toward the inevitable--or so it seemed.

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With one out in the top of the seventh, Buxton drew his second walk of the game. Baldelli was then faced with a test: Wallner was due up and the Guardians were bringing in lefty Tim Herrin. Manuel Margot has more range in right field and is employed to hit lefties, but he is 0-28 pinch-hitting this year. Make that 0-29, as he chopped into an inning-ending double play. The drumbeats grew louder.

Baldelli made, perhaps, an even more curious decision in the bottom of the frame, with Ronny Henriquez taking over for Sands. This was partially a result of an even stranger decision from the front office: the optioning of Jorge Alcalá.

Manzardo bleeds a single up the middle.

Myles Straw pinch runs (he's fast). Brennan bats. Henriquez picks to first and... Straw is OUT? Has the curse been broken? With no momentum to capitalize on, Brennan actually makes an out. That brings up Cleveland's no-hit, no-field catcher, Bo Naylor. He grounds out. What is going on here? Is Henriquez an answer? Did the offbeat choice to go to a middle reliever in a high-leverage spot throw off the cruel universe's rhythm?

The Guardians then brought in their most flammable reliever, Nick Sandlin. He got Santana to pop out and fooled Lewis so badly on a slider that trainers came out to check on the oft-injured slugger's wrist. But there is a reason Sandlin is the bane of every Cleveland fan's existence: Larnach stroked a single and then the struggling and forgotten Willi Castro murdered a fastball middle-in to change the game and give the Twins a three-run lead.

What am I talking about? A three-run lead late against Cleveland is more like a two-run deficit. In any case, Jhoan Durán was brought in to keep them in the game. 

But he didn't let the leadoff hitter on. He got the next guy, too, with a tremendous diving stop from Santana robbing Martinez of a sure hit. Then Giménez, who exists only to play defense and torment the Twins, struck out on an excellent Durán curveball.

This one was really going to hurt. It felt like that scene in the Lord of the Rings when the stupidest hobbit drops the chain down the well. It looked for a bit like the Twins' most hobbit-like reliever, Louie Varland, was coming in to close it out, but this was a clever ruse by Baldelli, who opted to use Durán for another inning.

To no one's surprise, Ramírez doubled. The good Naylor struck out. Lane Thomas worked the count to 3-2. Durán's pitch count got to 30. A close pitch was called ball four, and Griffin Jax was summoned with the tying run at home plate. All-Star David Fry was summoned to pinch-hit. Jax manhandled him, striking out Fry on four pitches.

But Brennan was next, and despite having little power, you could tell he was trying to tie the game up with one swing. Instead, Jax got him to tap a ball to Brooks Lee, who booted the ball, giving the Guardians life. Visions of the hole in C.J. Cron's glove whirled around my head. But before the moment could sink in and sink the Twins, Bo Naylor swung at the first pitch and tapped back to Jax, who took the ball himself for the game-winning out.

Trends:

Stray Notes:
-This team has very little speed to work with. With Larnach, who can't run due to a hamstring issue, on first in the eighth, the Twins pinch-running options were Christian Vazquez, Jose Miranda and the footless Carlos Correa. Ouch.
-How hurt is Miranda exactly? He hasn't played either of the Cleveland games and Margot was the choice to pinch-hit for Wallner. He had a back issue in July and when he returned got drilled in the head by a fastball. Perhaps it is some combination of those maladies, or perhaps a new issue has surfaced?

What’s Next: Bailey Ober (12-7, 3.90 ERA) opposes Tanner Bibee (11-8, 3.60 ERA) in game three of the series. Ober has been pretty great outside of a couple of fluke outings and fluke innings, and dominated the Guardians at Target Field in August. Bibee has been no slouch himself, and is likely the de facto ace of the Guardian's staff. He has had plenty of success against the Twins, with a 2.73 ERA over six starts in his career.

Postgame Interviews:

Bullpen Usage Chart: